MMA Junkie reports that UFC 157 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California was a sellout with a reported 15,525 in attendance for a $1.4 million gate. In addition, UFC head Dana White announced the bonuses which were $50,000 each.
The winners of the bonuses were as follows:
Fight of the Night: Dennis Bermudez v. Matt Grice
Submission of the Night: Kenny Robertson
KO of the Night: Robbie Lawler
White indicated at the post-fight press conference that the event was a sellout. According to MMA Junkie and Ariel Helwani (via twitter), its the highest attendance of any of the 6 events held at the Honda Center. This includes UFC 121 which featured Brock Lesnar v. Cain Velasquez.
Payout Perspective:
While the UFC announced the attendance, it would be interesting to know of the actual paid attendance. UFC 121 did have a higher gate despite having less in attendance ($2.2M via MMA Payout Blue Book). Its likely that those tickets were higher priced due to Lesnar-Cain for the Heavyweight Championship. It was a good showing for women’s MMA and the fight did not disappoint. Stay tuned for MMA Payout’s run down of the event.
I was blown away by the gate for this show. California has a lot of fight fans but no state can consistently provide live gates even close to what the Vegas casinos offer. Consider this, I literally don’t even remember the last time boxing had a live gate of $1 million in the state of California. It’s been a LONG time. Vitali Klitschko vs. Chris Arreola (a California resident) back in 2009 for the WBC Heavyweight world championship managed around $830,000 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. For a Ronda Rousey headlined card to do so is beyond impressive to me.
Nice and enjoyable card, worth the 44.95 on Roku.
What do you do with Koscheck? There are a lot of guys that would make interesting matchups ranked in the late teens to early 30;s in the UFC, but is that really what you want fr a Fuel or FX headliner or co-main event?
Same for Hendo. Would he be interested in fiogthing the Te Huna, MInowa, DAvis/Magalies winner? Hard to know what to do with a legend who is no longer a title contender.
The main events were uneventful.
What was left was a good night of Fuel fights–but at a much higher price.
Obviously the UFC lowered ticket prices or comped a lot–since the gate was only 1.4 million with a sellout of 15000 plus. Evidently they wanted a sellout for their ‘historic’ moment.
I am sure Dana White sees this event as a success due to the mainstream coverage for sort-of-pretty Ronda: Woman Cage-Fighter.
But after seeing Jon Fitch released–with his hard-earned record of wins–I get the distinct impression the UFC is becoming the UFE. I know Dana is fond of calling his hardcore fanbase ‘idiots’, but you can only poke the tiger so much before it bites.
Why would this gate blow you away? This gate isn’t impressive for the UFC at this location.
From mmajunkie:
The UFC’s full list of events at Honda Center (previously Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim) include:
“UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velasquez” – $2,237,000 gate (14,856 attendance)
“UFC 59: Reality Check” – $2,191,450 (13,814)
“UFC 76: Knockout” – $1,985,000 (13,770)
“UFC 63: Hughes vs. Penn” – $1,582,370 (12,604)
“UFC on FOX 1: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos” – $1,072,187 (11,607)
@assassin
I like Kos but he may be near the end of his career. I did like him on the reality show most never saw on AKA. Maybe he does in-studio analysis on a Fuel TV/UFC show.
@Weezy02
I think the Honda Center is the go to venue outside of Vegas. Made sense here considering Rousey/Carmouche both live down or up the 5 from the Honda Center. Easy for their supporters to come to the event. Also, Hendo’s camp is in SoCal and Blackhouse (where I believe Machida trained) is in SoCal
Jason,
I saw the reality show on AKA, think it was on Novu TV 276 on Verizon (6 or so episodes?). Maybe leaving AKA has been part of KOS problem as he doesnt have a strong team to train with or anyone to tell him when he is wrong. Though I doubt he would ever go back after what I saw on the show.
UFC fans are so stupid… circle jerking to a main event womens fight.
A WOMANS FIGHT FOR CHRISTS SAKES.
Not remotely competitive on paper or in reality.
“Why would this gate blow you away?”
Because no female fight in history ever drew anywhere near this much live gate or buyrate. Some of the sport’s biggest draws headlined the events you reference that drew higher live gates. 135 lbs. women accomplishing this is a huge deal, whether a subset of fans acknowledge it or not. I’m not saying it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread or anything of the sort, don’t get me wrong. But it is absolutely new territory as women’s combat sports has never seen a night like last night.
“A WOMANS FIGHT FOR CHRISTS SAKES.”
A 135 pound female MMA fighter outdrawing the likes of California fighters Andre Ward and Chris Arreola on their best nights is a huge deal to most that closely examine the business side of combat sports. By all means, though, hate away. They feed off of it, believe me.
sampson did dana white deny you to take a picture with him? is that why you always hating on the ufc?
Outdrawing Andre hug me Ward and Arreola? Thats an argument?
Hilarious. I swear UFC fans are missing frontal lobes
@Sampson Simpson
“Outdrawing Andre hug me Ward and Arreola? Thats an argument?”
“UFC fans are so stupid… circle jerking to a main event womens fight.”
I don’t understand why you are so agitated, were you cut by the UFC or something?
I’m a fight fan, I frequent this site b/c I like the legal & business angle articles. I’ve noticed anything ‘UFC’ related irritates blurred irrational responses. You sound like a scorned spouse.
@Random Dude
The gate was ‘impressive” b/c many journalists & fans were questioning the UFC’s decision to headline a ppv card with a women’s title fight. Despite the naysayers, the event sold out.
“Despite the naysayers, the event sold out.”
What naysayers? Dana White said at the post-press that the press and journalists went above and beyond for this event. He said the press has never treated them as well as this event.
Not to mention people seem to have forgotten that Gina Carano headlined a successful Strikeforce card (her last fight). I don’t see how this fight was considered much of a risk, given that Gina was successful with a smaller and poorer organization (Strikeforce), that did not have the media connections or promotion muscle as the UFC.